Couple Time: Is She the One?

When I was a single guy, I had a foolproof way of figuring out if I was compatible with the woman I was dating. I’d rent my favorite old movie, Born Yesterday, and watch her reaction. It was important that I find someone who enjoyed black-and-white screwball comedies as much as I do, so if she didn’t laugh a lot, then I knew we wouldn’t last. There was one date who loved it, and guess what? I married her. You see, sometimes it takes just one simple thing for us to figure out if a woman has the qualities we’re looking for. These guys agree:

“She won’t be obsessed with looks.” “My girlfriend asked what I liked about her, and I said her personality, beauty and most important, that she always cheered me up. She replied, ‘What about how I dress?’ What she liked most about me? She said, ‘Your hair.’ That was it! I was so bugged, the next day I had all my hair cut off. When she saw me that night, she refused to go out on our date. That was the end of us.”—Dan Zamora, 35, Laguna Beach, Calif.

“She’ll be independent.” “I’d been dating my girlfriend for only six months when she started talking about getting married and staying home with the kids while I worked. She was looking for a much more traditional partnership than I was. We were on totally different pages, so I broke it off.”—Jarrod Smith, 25, New York City

“She’ll respect that I’m a dad.” “I get to see my daughter only two days a week and every other weekend. When one girlfriend complained that it was way too much time away from her, I knew we were doomed.”—Eric Elkins, 39, Denver

“She’ll know her limit.” “I went for drinks with a woman I’d been dating, and she got so drunk that I had to carry her out of the bar. She asked me to put her down—then proceeded to pull up her skirt and pee in the alley!”—Ari Schantz, 26, Syracuse, N.Y.

“She’ll be a good driver.” “The first time I saw my ex behind the wheel, she almost caused several serious accidents in the first seven minutes. Never had I seen such a reckless performance by a sober person. Every botched lane change and tailgate was proof of how inconsiderate she was.”—Trevor Clarke, 21, San Clemente, Calif.